5/22/17

Book of the Week (5/22/2017)

Granite, Fire, and Fog: The Natural and Cultural History of Acadia by Tom Wessels (Lebanon, NH: University Press of New England, 2017).

NH author, professor of ecology and founding director of the master's degree program in conservation biology at Antioch University, Tom Wessels brings us an interesting study of one of New England's and the nation's most popular national parks.
The only book that offers both a natural and a cultural history of one of the nation’s favorite parks. Acadia National Park, on Maine's Mount Desert Island, is among the most popular national parks in the United States. From the road, visitors can experience magnificent vistas of summit and sea, but on a more intimate scale, equally compelling views abound along Acadia's hiking trails.
Tom Wessels, an ecologist, naturalist, and avid hiker, attributes the park's popularity--and its unusual beauty--to the unique way in which earth, air, fire, and water--in the form of glacially scoured granite, winter winds, fire, and ocean fog--have converged to create a landscape that can be found nowhere else.
In this beautifully illustrated book, Wessels invites readers to investigate the remarkable natural history of Mount Desert Island, along with the unique cultural story it gave rise to. This account of nature, terrain, and human interaction with the landscape will delight those who like to hike these bald summits, ride along the carriage roads, or explore the island's rugged shoreline. Wessels concludes with a guided tour of one of his favorite hikes, a ten-mile loop that will acquaint the reader with the diverse ecosystems described throughout his book. --Publisher's blurb
Join Tom at Toadstool Bookshop in Keene, NH Sunday, May 28, 2017 at 4:00 pm where he will be discussing his new book!

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